The night was cooler, with a slight breeze in the air. The line to enter The Nile Theater was forming down the alleyway and around the corner. The people were all adorned in black from head to toe, but the women were decked out in their best goth clothing. Some were even dawning crowns to see their favorite goth rock groups; The Birthday Massacre, Julien-K and Sons of Providence.
The first band to take the stage was none other than Phoenix’s very own Sons of Providence. The band was formed in 2001 by their front man Memphis Roarke. What makes this band unique is that it is a two-man band. Roarke sings and plays the double base while his partner Zebulon Huntting Jessup plays the drums. Their sound is very interesting, Roarke’s microphone is hooked up to a type of synthesizer to change his voice while he sings. Roarke also displays a persona while on stage, he is very animated. Jessup gets lost in his drums and the music; it is almost as if the world around him disappears. If you are looking for a new type of goth rock band, Sons of Providence are a great band to look at! At the end of their set, it is unclear if it was on purpose or accidental but Roarke falls into their bands logo banner and ends up on the floor with his double bass on top of him. Jessup comes to the rescue and helps him up and they leave the stage. During their performance there is very little interaction with the audience but the real interaction came before and after their set they could be seen at their merch booth talking to their fans!
The next band to take the stage was Julien-K. Julien-K was formed in 2003 by Orgy’s own Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck. The band if formed by Ryan Shuck-lead vocals, keyboard and rhythm guitar, Amir Derakh-lead guitar, synthesizers, samples, bass and keyboards, Anthony “Fu” Valcic- bass, keyboards, programming, and their current touring drummer is Galen Waling. When on stage Shuck lets it all out. His energy is so captivating that you want to see where he is going to go next. He goes from singing to rocking out on his guitar from one side of the stage one minute to the other side the next. This electronic rock band truly knows how to get the crowd pumped and ready for the night to continue. Before they left the stage at the end of their set, Julien-K acknowledged the love for their fans and thanked them for their continued support for over 25 years. They decided that their last song had to pay homage to the band that made them famous so they played “Blue Monday” by Orgy.
The crowd was growing anxious and more excited as they waited for the last band to take their turn on stage. That band was none other than Canada’s own The Birthday Massacre. The current lineup for The Birthday Massacre is Sara “Chibi” Taylor-vocals, Michael Rainbow-rhythm guitar, Michael Falcore-lead guitar, Philip Elliot-drums and Owen Mackinder-keyboard. The Birthday Massacre was originally called ‘Imagica’ but they changed the name because there was another band called that. The minute the lights went down the whole band came on stage with the exception of one person, Chibi. Her entrance was delayed for a few moments, you know what they say, its okay to be fashionably late! She ran onto the stage and immediately the crowd grew even more amped up! After a few songs Chibi began to interact and tell stories to the crowd.
The highlight was when she brought two little girls onto the stage and had them jumping and dancing around with her. We all know that made those little girls night even more magical. Chibi also talked about how if felt like it had been “800 years since they have played a show”. She also dedicated “Crush” to Julien-K. Towards the end of the night Chibi says “You guys are so much fun! We always have fun here but there’s something special going on tonight… I’m starting to think this is the funest show of the tour!”. They then end their set with “Blue”, after they leave the stage, they are back within moments ready to play an encore song to truly end the night. Over all the goth rock scene ended on a truly spectacular note and the crowd was elated to be able to see all these amazing bands in one night.
The Birthday Massacre
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Julien-K
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Sons of Providence
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The Nile Theater
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